


Nightmare Mode

by lord_acies



Series: Absolute Power corrupts Absolutely. [1]
Category: Fanders, Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Darkness, Depression, Explicit Language, Gen, LITERALLY, Mind Control, Mind Games, Swearing, TW: He's called Anxiety for a reason, You Have Been Warned, anxiety swears... a lot, now magnify that times ten, please don't be surprised when shit hits the fan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-10-18 15:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10619769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lord_acies/pseuds/lord_acies
Summary: What if Anxiety's version of Princey's Daydream mode was brutal?(Also makes a point that our Anxiety is far from the villain by showing off what a REAL villain looks like.)





	1. Intro. to Insanity

**Author's Note:**

> This story, I am ashamed to say, was inspired by a particular MCR song. At least Anx would be proud. Anyway, if you can figure out which song it was in the comments below, I'll give you a shoutout in either the next chapter or next story in the series (which ever comes first).  
> I hope to do a bunch of these where each facet gets far too much power, one way or another and utterly destroys Thomas in their own special way.  
> "Wow, that's dark, you emo nightmare." Yes, I'm aware, I'm a walking angst machine, but hey! We've already got plenty of fluffy, smutty fics. Time to bring on the pain!

It was three in the morning, the night before a full day of recording another stupid video, when I was in my room, getting a good night’s insomnia so that the bags under my eyes would be extra dark for tomorrow (I’m running out of eyeshadow.) when suddenly, some asshole summons me. I HAD been laying on my bed, minding my own business, scrolling through Tumblr when, with no warning, I was faceplanting onto hardwood floors. I get up, dust myself off and slip my phone into my hoodie pocket in one motion and sneer, “Gee thanks, Sanders.” I glare from behind my bangs, that Thomas keeps cut far too short.

He looks fairly shocked and as I finally look up I notice that none of the others are here, although that won’t last long. As soon as Sir Dork-a-lot realises I’m out here ‘unattended’ then it will be fucking pandemonium. I grow tired of Sanders’ gaping mouth (dude, so what. Like you’ve never landed on your face before.) so I apathically mention that if he leaves his mouth like that he’ll choke on a fly. “Uh…” “Very articulate Sanders…” Now I’m really getting bored. I could have been watching Supernatural. Wow, he doesn’t look like he’s gonna be talking anytime soon. “Whatever” I start to sink out, but he stops me. “Wait…”

“What do you want from me.” I grit out through clenched teeth without a hint of a questioning tone. “Princy’s in charge of inspiration, Logic does your lists and Morality is an infinite supply of Dad jokes, so what the hell do you need me for?” I didn’t notice, but as I was talking I stepped closer and closer. Now I’m practically looming over him and we’re the same height, looking closer, he’s got some serious bags under his eyes. Like, currently rivalling my own level. I’m almost impressed, except I know it can’t mean anything good on him. He seems far meeker at the moment then he generally does so I straighten up and slide a half step back. I’m not a complete monster ya know. Finally he speaks in a groggy, horribly tired voice, “I was hoping… that… Maybe, you could…” he attempts to shake the sleep out of his head, “Could you convince me to get this done tonight?” He pauses as I quirk my eyebrows in confusion. This has to be a joke or a trap. Why the fuck would he want me of all people to try and convince him of anything?

“It’s just that, Logan, Roman and Morality have already done their part for tomorrow’s video and now they think I can just go to sleep without having finished refining the last bits. It will probably be another hour before it’s all done and all I can hear is the three of them in the back of my head trying to convince me to go to bed.” He brushes his hair out of his face to reveal that he looks even more tired than I had thought. “I guess I just hoped that you could drown them out if you were here.” I roll my eyes. “Yeah, fat chance. Maybe I could have, a long time ago, but you’ve sapped more than half of my power.” He looks confused, so a take on my best patronizing tone to explain it, “Remember when I could harass you all the time, prevent the others from materializing and even keep you from sending me away?” He nods. “Yeah… Well. I can’t even stay in your vlog conversations when the others glare too hard at me now. You are shit out of luck and it’s all your fault.”

He makes that face, the face that Roman makes when he’s about to suggest a really, dangerously stupid idea and I can only frown and groan internally. “Wait a minute, what if I gave you daydream mode? Roman never got to truly use it, but I wonder what it would be like with you.” Now I’m really worried, “You do realize, I we have no idea when daydream mode would do to us, let alone a nightmarish version of it. This quite possibly the dumbest idea you’ve had yet.” He giggles, “Do it for the Vine?” and I wince, “too soon…” And with that encouragement, I convince him to summon the others, you know, you can never be too careful. The others argue of course, what logical person would unfetter their anxiety. I’m pretty sure that Princy here still thinks I’m some sort of beast to be slain for the fair maiden’s safety, but it not like that’s ever stopped me from doing whatever. Morality acts fine with it, but I can literally feel the waves of worry and well, anxiety flowing off everyone in the room.

So Thomas, talks them down and calms their nerves, but not mine. I still think this is a bad idea, that doesn’t stop him from shaking my hand and nearly all of the energy of the others from flowing into me with a rush that cuts like a knife deep in my being. Suddenly it’s like I’m caught in the worst panic attack of my existence. My vision spots in and out as I grow so dizzy and lightheaded that I fall, but the impact feels distant as if it hasn’t quite happened yet, it couldn’t have happened, because I don’t feel it. The last thought that runs through my mind, as I belatedly process the weird sounds to mean the others have rushed to my side, is that yes. Yes, this was a fucking stupid idea.


	2. Terror-fying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas takes the helm of narration and I completely apologize if this is a bit OOC, but hey. I had a plot planned out and then these jackasses changed it on my last second. What's a writer to do?

Alright, so maybe this wasn’t the best idea, but in my defense… Yeah, I’ve got nothing. I was sleep deprived? I should have listened to Anxiety when he told me to stop, I should have listened to Morality when he told me to get some sleep, I should have listened to Logic when he explained that I could finish going over the script before breakfast tomorrow if I set an alarm, but no… I just… 

I handed control over to him and he went from concerned to concerning in 5.2 secs. The others fell to their knees from the power pulled from them, but I was too worried about Anxiety to spare it a thought. His face flushed and he swayed on his feet as his eyes rolled back into his head. I went to catch him, but he slipped through my arms and hit the ground anyway, which really made me feel stupid, but that’s besides the point! He could be really badly hurt for all I know! Just thinking about it made my heart race in my chest much less looking at the cold hard results of my stupid decision. 

He rose with a jolted stance, cracking his neck awkwardly to the side as void-like smoke swirled around his being, and dimmed the lights to an eerie extent. Wisps of thought grow from whispers to an assault of “WORTHLESS!!”, “Hates you” and “you monster” each gritted out over the next to a punk-rock song with an intricate guitar riff playing in the background. He brushes his bangs out of his face and glares piercingly at us. “What the hell are you looking at.” 

He didn’t question, raise his voice or even threaten with his tone like he usually does, but his words still ran chills down our backs. I try to make remind him of what we were doing before I accidentally knocked him out, “J-Just making sure you’re okay, Anxiety. We’ve still got a lot of-” He cuts me off with genuine bout of laughter than leaves him practically breathless, “anxiety??? He’s gone, you dumbasses. As for me? I’m Terror.” he introduces himself and guides the smoke around his left hand which quickly solidified to inky black claws. 

He stomps forward and I flinch which prompts Princy to grit his teeth against his fears and draw his sword, stepping between the two of us. “Leave him alone.” Roman bellows with as much confidence as he can muster. Terror snorts and I notice that aside from his sword and practiced righteous facade my fanciful side is shaking like a leaf. With a clawed, half-hearted swat and a yawn, Terror shatters his sword and it’s pieces char black as they fall to the ground. Now he’s really quaking in his pixie boots. “Well that was pointless pretty boy.” Terror sneers before plunging his hand into Roman’s chest and pulling out his heart, Princy falls to his knees wincing immediately.

Running a single claw, tenderly across Roman’s heart elicits a pained gasp from its owner. A sick grin twists up from a smirk across his face as he slowly sinks his claws into it, Roman coughs and hacks up some tar-like substance as his heart fades to the same black as Terror’s darkness. Morality’s overprotective side kicks in and he tries to rush Terror, but with a flick of his wrist, he clotheslines him with shadows. I grab Prince by the shoulders and try to help him cough it up, but he just sputters an apology at the sight of me. I tell him that it’s not his fault. I tell him that everything’s going to be okay and he tries to give me a sincere smile. Terror levels a glare that distinctly says ‘bitch please’ at me and sighs flinging Roman’s heart over his shoulder. 

The pathetic, black, bleeding thing zips back to Roman as quickly as it can as if it knows where it belongs and it will make him feel better. I almost feel hopeful for a second, but instead of reviving him, he freezes for a single horrible second before bonelessly collapsing to the floor. I actually manage to catch him and properly freak the fuck out. He’s pale and his entire outfit turns gray in front of me. Logic rushes over and takes Prince into his arms, unlike me he actually remembers that anatomy class I took junior year. He runs through a few diagnostic things I vaguely remember from watching too much House and turns to me, “Uh… um… He’s going to be fine, Thomas.” He stutters not quite meeting my eyes. “Logan…” He starts tearing up, “I don’t know! I just don’t… None of this makes sense! I’m flying blind.” He swings his arm dramatically and slaps Roman across the face, to which he gasps and coughs up more of that black crap. 

“Wow, Logic. I’m humbled by your genius. Couldn’t tell when a passed out guy choked on shit. Thanks for your medical expertise.” Roman sneers uncharacteristically cutting Logan down sarcastically. “Roman, that was totally uncalled for!” I reprimand in sync with Morality, who is distracting Terror on the other side of the room. He scrutinizes a nail he cracked in is fall and whines, “Great… Now I’m the bad guy.” Terror snorts, “Get used to it Rapunzel.” He mock gasps, “Mother Gothel! And I’m offended! Besides…” he draws a onyx black broadsword out of the shadows and brandishes it boldly, “I’m no prince. I’m the goddamn King.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Future Reference, The King is just his nickname, he still goes by Roman, but his title now is Ego. 
> 
> Also! I have a poll for you guys, should I continue to corrupt the the other sides and emotionally abuse Thomas to the point were it is doubtful that we'll be able to fix it or should I leave it at this and have the remaining sides band together to save Prince and Anxiety?
> 
> Vote in the comments below and let me know if you want to see more of this at all. I await your response!


	3. Faulty Logic

King glares with malicious intent as he chuckles with none of the mirth that he usually displays. "Heh... You know what Sanders? I have never done anything but try to help you, but it's like you crave mundanity! Rewriting my work, throwing out my jokes, ignoring me entirely..." He stalks even closer, swiping his sword through the air as he speaks, prolonging his glare into one that sends chills down my spine and has my eyes averting their soulless appearance. He always had an exuberant twinkle in his eyes, but now they are as black as Terror's inky attacks. "I've never been so insulted in my life, Thomas.... I took Terror through my very being and you don't have the decency to look me in the eye? Hardly befitting a king of the internet..."

The egotistical bastardization of my fanciful side grins like he's already won, "Perhaps someone should take your crown." He skirts the flat of his blade around my jawline, almost tenderly and reverently, before winding his arm back for a decidedly fatal slash. "Oh, don't worry about your fans... I'll take your obligation gladly. How could I refuse?" He sings the last line darkly. I brace myself for the attack, closing my eyes tight and waiting for the cold steel to slash through me, but instead I'm thrown to the and the sound of metal scraping across metal fills the room before someone cries out. I open my eyes and take in the scene. Logic is standing partially over me with blood dripping down his arm and a caliper on the floor in front of him. "Huh, unsurprisingly calipers aren't good for sword fighting, perhaps I should change up my form to accommodate." He offers he a hand up while picking up his weapon of choice, completely turning his back on the flabbergasted Ego. King finally spits out "In what world did you think that would work?!"

Logan readies his stance with the caliper in his uninjured hand, "I never thought it would work, but that's not the point. I'm not fighting you..." He lashes out quickly with the pointed end which King easily deflects. "... I'm distracting you!" He spares Patton and I a glance, looking me right in the eye as he shouts. "Get out of here!" King uses his apparent distraction to launch a tentative attack that Logan manages to catch in the claw of the caliper and with of a twist of his wrist, disarm King. Sending his sword flying across the room.

"Alright son, let's get going!" Morality grabs me by the shoulder and begins to drag me into the next room. Ego cursed loudly, running after us while summoning a new weapon (lazy bum can't run and get his sword). Logic was right behind us and ducked in the door at the last second, pressing his full weight against the door. Even then, it still leapt forward a few inches with each of Ego's attempts to ram it open. Morality started dragging a large cabinet over to it and I leapt at the idea. Each of us working in tandem like a well oiled machine, but in actuality were just horrified into action. With the cabinet in place we were finally able to hold to door down enough to throw the pitiful door lock. It's kind of pathetic, but it definitely made me feel better even though we could still hear the others throwing everything they had at the door for a minute or two before they gave up.

Logic slid down the wall, limply and pulled at his tie. Slowly pulling the knot out of it and wrapping it just below his elbow. He painstakingly looped it through itself and pulled it tight with his teeth. Looking closer at his wound, it was plain to see the dark inky matter, in it. "Logan?" I whimper... I don't wanna ask, but I can't not know. It'd be too dangerous to not...

This dilemma ends up not mattering since Logan dejectedly answers the question on my mind. "Yes it is. But it doesn't matter." Morality growls a little at that, "Don't try to tell me it doesn't matter! You're hurt," Patton's crying and starting to sound a little hysterical , "besides. What kind of Dad would I be?" Now that I notice it, quiet tears are running down my face as well...

Logic fixes him with a heated glare. "The odds of Thomas and the rest of us surviving this at all are pitiful. I refuse to cry about this rather than doing something to fix it!" Logic snaps loudly, wincing at his accidentally aggravated wound, before going wide eyed. "That was unnecessarily cruel... please forgive me." he mutters his apology, averting his eyes and tugging one end of his tourniquet tighter.

"I exist in percentages, theories and raw data. And I'm trying so hard to be objective here, but this sucks. I read about pain and conflict and war and betrayal. And now I have first hand knowledge of what I had always been curious of but never pursued. It'd only be a waste of time to argue this point further. If I know one thing it's that if we don't figure a way out of this, we are all going to die with you." He tries to explain himself, but just ends up feeling worse about himself.

"Maybe you'd be better off without us? From a gambling perspective, sacrificing those aspects of yourself and dealing with the consequences seems like the safer bet than facing them." Logan mutters at the floor darkly.

"Never!" Patton states it like a fact as forcefully as possible with a bit of a whimper in his voice, left over from crying. I agree. "This is all my fault... If I can't fix it then I deserve whatever's coming to me." I mutter, thinking of Anxiety. I haven't even learned his name yet. If I've killed him I don't know who I'd be mourning. He'd become so much more than the embodiment of my anxiety. He was caution and rebellion and healthy suspicion and I have to save him. To apologize for not listening to him.

Logic scoffs, breaking me out of my mini-breakdown. "Whatever. Just know that the logical answer when faced with a rabid dog is to put it down. I sincerely hope that your disgusting emotions won't give you enough pause to allow what's left of me and the others to hurt you or Morality." he grimaces at his own words "I should go, I'll hold them off for as long as I can..." He starts muttering to himself as he turns toward the door. "Even then that only affords you a 9% advantage, although if I stay I'll worsen those odds by 22%. Unacceptable."

"You two are going to have to finish this on your own. If you really want to do that stupid mercy thing, you'll need to depower Terror and save us from the darkness."

"And how exactly are we supposed to do that!?" I whine exasperatedly, surprising myself. But considering the mix of fear and ego, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. And looking at Logan's face I can tell he just had the same thought.

His entire face brightens, like he looks when he's figured out a slang word or something emotional that went completely over his head. "That's it! You know how Anxiety has been getting more docile up until now? Well, I've been testing the theory that the more you use each of our traits, the more power we have." He pulls a packet of spreadsheets and graphs out of thin air before realizing that we don't have the time and just trying to sum it up.

"I get power from logical thought, planning and the pursuit of knowledge, Morality gains strength from puppies, junk food and the feeling of doing the right thing, and Anxiety gets it from worrying, cynicism and punk rock. But Terror is a new beast entirely, you'll have to deprive him of whatever it is he needs and weaken him to the point where you can wrench control away." He winces at first I thought it was because he didn't have much data on Terror's behavior, but he started coughing and hacking painfully (into his elbow because "I'm not a heathen Thomas.") and leaving a large black stain on the inside of his -now wrinkled- long sleeved dress shirt.

"Heh." he almost laughs mirthlessly. "I don't think I'll be able to help you much longer on that front. I'd tell you good luck, but I honestly don't believe in it. So... I just ask for thing. Swear to me that no matter what you'll end us before we do the same to you and Patton, Thomas." He turns dead serious.

"Logan..." Morality takes on a tone of voice that almost guarantees that he'll try to convince talk him out of it. I cut him off.

"I promise."

His eyes turn hopeful and that turns my stomach, since I've basically agreed to kill him. "Well, may the odds be in your favor." He half-bows in consolation.

"That's Hunger Games, Logan." I half-heartedly correct, partly out of habit, but mostly because I don't know what to say.

"Is it? Guess we'll have to add that to the list of pop culture for later, you know, if we survive this. Either way, We're counting on you."

"Hey." I get his attention from his nearly single minded focus on the door. "Good luck Logan."

He smirks wryly before depanning "37.93% boys... and steadily declining. Luck? I don't need luck, I need you to keep that promise, Thomas." He pauses to make the last sentence rhyme in an obvious attempt to make us grin but it doesn't take.

He turns back to the door, pushing the cabinet out of the way and resting his hand on the doorknob. "I'm going to have to open this. It would be tactically wise to lock it behind me and put the cabinet back in place, but it'd be safer to retreat." he mutters in our general direction, unlocking the door. He pauses a moment, opens the door for a fraction of a second and dashes through, slamming the door shut behind him. I quickly turn the lock and Patton shoves the cabinet back towards the door with little success until I start dragging it as fast as I can. It goes back into position easily and through the door we can hear metal on metal in an intense battle between Ego and Logic. I ignore the feeling that shouts that I'm dooming Logan and that I've doomed them all as we run to the spare room.

There's not much set up in here but we're able to get the desk (that I had set up all of my sound recording equipment on) up against the door in here. I sigh and slump into the chair, how the heck am I going to get out of this one...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I spent this chapter is the official winner for the most amount of writing and rewriting in my entire history of writing, so please let me know if there are any errors (I have no beta readers) and even more importantly... Let me know what you think of this new turn of events!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos if you liked it and comment if you'd like some more. I'd like to know what you all think, since this is only the beginning of a great series. Catch ya later!


End file.
